No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.
-James Arthur Baldwin
Okay, Desmond thought, trying to sit up so he could tell Lucy and Rebecca about his plan - which wasn't really much of a plan. But however much he tried, he couldn't get the energy to sit up. He'd been lying there for a couple hours, and he felt dizzy and lightheaded, even with his head on a pillow.
Groaning, Desmond reached up to run his hand over his face. Pain shot up each of his fingers, up his arm, through his heart, and burned up to his brain.
Desmond gasped, a sharp intake of shock and pain. Reeling, still dizzy, he sat up quickly—too quickly.
The first thing he registered was the absolutely mind-numbing headache he got sitting up so fast. Then, from the reaction of using only his legs to prop up his torso, a tremendous pain in the muscle on his right thigh. This time Desmond actually cried out, automatically slapping a hand to his injured leg—his injured hand.
"Fuck!" Desmond screeched, his brain overloading from the pain.
In the dim light, he looked down at himself for the first time.
Blood was slowly seeping through the white sheets around his upper legs. Gaping, Desmond stared, then held up his right hand, swollen and bruised. Turning it around so he could see the back of it, he noticed the knuckles were scratched.
Hoping his situation wasn't what he thought it was, Desmond ripped aside the sheets around his legs.
There was a large hole in his jeans and his right leg. It was oozing blood, though not as much as it should have been. No wonder he felt dizzy and wanted to throw up.
"The dream..." Desmond muttered. "It was real." For the first time, he looked around slowly.
His cot was placed long-side against the wall, with another bed at the headboard and another at the footboard. Rebecca was in the bed behind him, but the bed in front was empty. Desmond looked around. Lucy was at her computer, her head resting on the keyboard - asleep. With only two people that could keep night watch, they were being worn thin.
Desmond felt a stab of pity as he looked at the blonde sleeping, overworked. He almost didn't want to have to wake her up, but she had to know about what they had to do. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed - gently - Desmond stood slowly, swaying slightly.
The room spun around him, turning the world upside down. Desmond huffed air and took a stubborn step forward. He ended up on the ground on his hands and knees, jarring more pain from his injuries, but even that couldn't wake him up. Blackness slammed down over Desmond's eyes, and he fell forward, unconscious.
A couple hours later, Lucy's shoulder was shaken roughly, startling her awake. Perking up instantly, Lucy snapped her head up and whipped it around, instinctively grabbing for the closest thing to defend herself with—a pair of scissors. She brandished these furiously as blinked sleep out of her eyes, and the person who had woke her came into focus.
"Lucy," Rebecca was saying. Instantly the blonde relaxed and set down the scissors, stretching. "Yeah Becca, what is it?" she yawned, rising from her chair where she had fallen asleep.
Rebecca didn't need to explain herself—Lucy saw it. Him. Desmond lay sprawled out on the floor a couple feet from his cot, face down, a very small puddle of around his right side. Lucy stopped mid-yawn and rushed over to Desmond.
"What happened?" she managed to gasp out as she knelt beside Desmond, checking his pulse. Faint, but there.
"I don't know," Rebecca answered, crouching down beside the blonde. "I woke up about five minutes ago and saw him lying there. I checked his pulse then woke you up."
Glancing up quickly, Lucy noted the large blood stain on the cot in the middle's sheets. There was no blood trail leading from the exit of the Sanctuary.
"He never went outside," she muttered, looking back down. "Okay, help me roll him over—gently," she said out loud to Rebecca, placing her hands on Desmond's side.
Turning him over, Lucy found the source of the blood—a large gash in Desmond's right thigh. She bit her lip, repressing a gasp. The wound was deep, still slightly bleeding - though not nearly as much as it should have been - and dried blood was spread around the area—a lot of it. Another large amount was staining the crumpled sheets.
"It looks like his hand is broken," Rebecca pointed out, gently lifting and examining it. She seemed to be right; three fingers were bent awkwardly, and the hand was swollen and bloody.
"What the hell happened?" the brunette wondered out loud.
Lucy knew. It was probably those lights Desmond had been talking about. At first, she thought he'd gone crazy from the Bleeding Effect when he started seeing all those hallucinations. But then, she saw what happened to Shaun... things like that don't just happenout of thin air. The blonde didn't mention that, however, just examined the gash on Desmond's thigh. "We need to move him onto the bed," she announced. Grabbing his legs as gently as she could, with Rebecca at the arms, the two Assassins lowered their co-worker onto the cot.
"Right." Lucy had taken basic first aid training a few years back, and knew how to reset a bone, but she wasn't sure they'd have the right tools. "That leg will need stitches," she told Rebecca. "Go find the first aid kit; I think it's in my desk." The brunette nodded and walked quickly away.
Now, about the broken hand...Lucy picked it up gingerly and examined it closer. "Can we make these lights any brighter?" she called to Rebecca.
"No, I don't think so," Rebecca responded from across the room. "These power grids suck; I'm afraid we'll knock out the whole town if we use any more electricity. Found it!" she exclaimed, obviously referring to the first aid kit.
"We don't have a proper cast," Lucy groaned. "We'll have to let the fingers heal with just bandages keeping the bone together."
"Sucks to be Desmond," Rebecca remarked, returning and handing her friend the first aid kit. Lucy cracked it open - it was the best money could buy, but nothing could beat a real hospital - and examined the contents. A healthy amount of gauze, most of it non-adhesive, a handful of butterfly bandages, and various other types of Band-Aids. There were four small orange bottles of pills—Tylenol, anti-inflammatory medication, Benadryl, and diarrhea medication. A few pairs of rubber gloves, paramedic's scissors, alcohol pads. A tube of Neosporin and a roll of duct tape. A CPR face shield, an irrigation syringe, safety pins, and a sewing needle and stitches. Lucy pulled out the gauze, two pairs of rubber gloves, the scissors, a handful of bandages, some alcohol pads, the disinfectant, and the sewing needle and thread. Handing Rebecca a pair of gloves, the blonde snapped hers on, preparing herself.
Rebecca looked nervous, and hell, so was Lucy. "You done this before?" Lucy asked her friend softy.
"You mean woke up to find some guy passed out on the floor with unknown, potentially life-threatening injuries? No Lucy, I don't think I ever have done this before," Rebecca snapped. Whether she was irritated or freaking out, Lucy couldn't tell.
Making a mental note to have a girl-to-girl talk with Rebecca later, Lucy looked back down at the sleeping body. "Sorry," she muttered.
"We need to get his pants off—God that sounds weird." Rebecca spoke up first, referring to the wound on Desmond's leg. Lucy nodded and, together, the two Assassins lifted the two hundred pound deadweight, and pulled and struggled to get his jeans off. Finally, the legs came off over his sock feet. Rebecca whistled slowly at Desmond's wound.
The area around the cut was an angry red. An inch or two deep, it cut right through the muscle and oozed blood. Lucy couldn't see the shape of the wound - there was too much blood around it - but that didn't matter just then.
"Shit," she hissed. "He needs blood." Rebecca's eyes widened when she heard this.
"What's your blood type?" Lucy asked hurriedly.
After a short hesitation, Rebecca stammered out a B positive. Lucy already knew she had the right type, but was secretly hoping she wouldn't have to be the one giving blood.
Lucy breathed out slowly through her nose. "I'm an A positive."
Now, if anyone's an uber-AC nerd (like me -shot-), they'll know Desmond is - guess what - A positive! Hmm, I wonder what will happen? :3
-double shot-